Religious groups concentrate on relief efforts to aid Haitians

From Baltimore-

The Revs. Tracy Bruce and Stephen Davenport travel to Haiti every January to visit the music school in Port-au-Prince, the church in St. Etienne and the other development projects they support in the poorest nation in the Americas.

But with the school and the church now destroyed, and no word yet from many of the friends with whom the husband-and-wife Episcopal clergy members have worked over the decades, they expect this month's trip to be different.

"There's nothing that's coming out of Haiti at all in terms of communication right now from anybody on the ground," Bruce, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Glyndon, said Friday. "We're really looking to find our partners, so the work will continue."

In the wake of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that has leveled Port-au-Prince, religious groups throughout Maryland - many of which have long sent money and volunteers to Haitian orphanages, schools, clinics and churches - are focusing their charitable attention on disaster relief in the Caribbean nation of 9 million. They are talking about the devastation at services, taking up special collections and organizing teams to join the huge international relief effort.

"The people of Haiti are suffering beyond imagination and are crying out for the most basic of needs: water, food, clothing and shelter," the Rev. Dr. Peter K. Nord wrote in an appeal last week to the 72 congregations of the Presbytery of Baltimore. "They desperately need our help - help that will be needed for weeks, months and years to come."

More here-

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/faith/bal-md.fa.appeal17jan17,0,5628246.story